The American Rescue Plan will pump more than $790 million of pandemic relief funds into the Hampton Roads economy through funding to local governments and area colleges and universities.
The plan, enacted earlier this year, is giving $618 million to Hampton Roads cities and counties, Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine announced. The state government will get nearly $4.3 billion — the combined total of funds for the state and its cities and counties comes to $7.2 billion, the senators said.
They said they were pleased the Biden administration listened to their calls to give state and local governments flexibility in using the money. It should help the state and its cities and counties recover from the impact of lost revenue, as well as boosting public health efforts and broadband expansion, the senators said.
Colleges and universities in Hampton Roads will receive more than $162 million in emergency funding under the American Rescue Plan, Reps. Robert C. “Bobby Scott, D-Newport News, and Elaine Luria, D-Norfolk, reported.
The funding will help the schools cope with the financial impact of the pandemic, said Scott, chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor.
At least half the funding each institution is getting will be distributed as emergency cash assistance grants to students who are facing hunger, homelessness or other hardships, he said.
“The success of our local colleges and universities is critical to the success of our students and to the strength of this community,” Scott said, adding that the money will “provide struggling students with urgent relief that will allow them to stay on track and complete their education.”
“This funding will protect the services that residents depend on, like police and first responders, and prevent layoffs that jeopardize the economic recovery,” Luria said.
Here’s how the money will be distributed:
Norfolk: $151.1 million
Virginia Beach: $136.4 million
Chesapeake: $76 million
Newport News: $66.8 million
Portsmouth: $56.8 million
Hampton: $48.7 million
Suffolk: $30 million
James City County: $14.9 million
York County: $13.3 million
Gloucester County: $7.3 million
Isle of Wight County: $7.2 million
Williamsburg: $2.9 million
Poquoson: $2.4 million
Franklin $1.5 million
Old Dominion University: $46.3 million
Tidewater Community College, $46.1 million
Norfolk State University, $19.8 million
Thomas Nelson Community College, $15.2 million
College of William and Mary, $10.2 million
Hampton University $10.1 million
Christopher Newport University, $7.4 million
Virginia Wesleyan University, $4.2 million
Paul D. Camp Community College $2.2 million
Eastern Virginia Medical School $872,000.
The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan enacted earlier this year included $36 billion of funding for nearly 3,500 public and private, nonprofit colleges and universities nationwide.
The plan also provided $1,400 per-person checks, as well as $350 billion to help state and local governments, $10 billion for infrastructure projects including broadband services, $10 billion to help homeowners behind with mortgages, $21.6 billion to help households unable to pay rent and utilities; $10 billion to expand small business credit expansion initiatives.
Dave Ress, 757-247-4535, dress@dailypress.com